The Travels of Trivial Knowledge

by CCC


Stone Cold, Part II

“Celestia's Sun!” said Trivial, looking up suddenly. “Brilliant! I think I know what to do now!”

“What?” asked Fine Control.

“We need to feed a trickle of power into the flutter-teleport matrix.” said Trivial.

“We can't travel any distan-” began Fine.

“I know!” interrupted Trivial. “But we don't need to travel, we just need to feed a little power into the matrix. Just enough to make it light up, and keep it lit up. Quickly, before another one of us is turned to stone!”

Trivial leapt to his hooves, and galloped for the spell-control room.

“But... I don't understand...” said Fine, hurrying after him.

“The creature,” said Fine, “it's not made of matter, I don't think. That's how it can pass through walls. It's like a cockatrice, only it's completely unaffected by – and completely unable to affect – normal matter, probably normal magic too. It can't touch us, and we can't touch it. That's how it got into the Friendship before.”

“But it can affect matter.” objected Fine Control. “It's been turning ponies to stone.”

“Ah, but that's done through its gaze.” pointed out Trivial. “It's some sort of... space cockatrice. It doesn't need to touch us to turn us to stone, it just needs to be able to see, and be seen by, us. And Magic Surge definitely saw it.”

“...that makes sense, I guess.” said Fine, hesitantly. “But what does this have to do with lighting up the flutter-teleport matrix?”

“Because it retreated every time it entered the ship.” explained Trivial Knowledge. “Something that's in here is driving it away; the same thing that keeps these creatures away from Equestria. Something that's both here and in Equestria that's not usually found in the depths of interstellar space.”

“...air?” asked Fine Control.

“No,” said Trivial Knowledge, “air is made of matter, which doesn't affect this creature. No, it is affected, even repelled, by light. Right now, it can hover around the outside of the Friendship, and poke its head through the outer wall at any time to petrify any of us; but it can't hold its head in the light for long, and quickly retreats. If we can light up the outside of the ship as well, then we can drive this creature off!”

“I see...” said Fine. “It makes so much sense!”

* * *

“Well done, all of you.” said Captain Swift Wing, once he could move again. It had been four days since the flutter-teleport matrices had been lit up; one day for Healthy Growth to grow the required herbal mix, and three days for the cure to be administered; both the Captain and Magic Surge were still a little stiff and grey, but time and a little herbal skin lotion would remedy that.

“I feel that I should apologise.” said Healthy Growth. “I handled the crisis incorrectly at first, suspecting an internal rather than an external cause of trouble.”

“No permanent harm was done.” pointed out the Captain. “It is important to bear in mind, though, that we are heading into unexplored, unfriendly territory, far from the protection of the Princesses. We do not know what is out there; we must be very, very careful, for we shall face environmental dangers the likes of which no pony has ever seen before. Though, had I thought this through a little more myself, I might have expected to find some danger in the interstellar deeps.”

“Why, how could you have expected some sort of non-matter cockatrice before you saw it?” asked Healthy Growth.

“The form of the danger could not have been predicted,” said Captain Swift Wing, “but its presence could have been guessed. Consider, the number of stars in the sky.”

“Millions.” said Magic Surge, nodding.

“Billions.” said Trivial Knowledge.

“And, lit by one single star, the world of Equestria has bought forth dozens of intelligent species.” continued the Captain. “That any world should have failed to develop any form of intelligence at all seems unlikely, to say the least. And yet – and yet none of those worlds have ever yet sent travellers to Equestria. There must have been some reason for this silence from the stars; some dreadful danger in the depths of space that has claimed any previous explorers attempting to cross the gulfs from star to star. In the Ghost Cockatrices of the Deep, I believe we have found this danger; and as long as the flutter-teleport matrix remains lit up, we have a defense against it.” He nodded firmly. “We shall move forward,” he said, “and continue our explorations. Trivial, please note down this incident in your reports; future expeditions will be well served to have permanent lighting matrices installed.”